"Washington and Asmara relationship will not be possible" - Outgoing Obama Administration

The assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that repairing the broken links between Washington and Asmara will not be possible.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield, said "the US is not playing an antagonistic role toward Eritrea", and that the longstanding divide between the two nations “is not the relationship we desire.”

“President Isaias’ regime ordered the US Agency for International Development to leave Eritrea in 2005, along with other donors and international NGOs,” she recalled.

“As a result, we have no bilateral assistance, no military to military relationship."

While Ms Thomas-Greenfield acknowledged that the Eritrean government had made “limited” progress in addressing US concerns, she said "Eritrea's refusal to accept any US ambassador in Asmara since 2010” was the major obstacle before the US could adopt a friendlier posture.

President Afwerki, however, regards an end to UN sanctions against Eritrea as “a precondition of any serious effort to improve relations between the two countries,” a Washington think tank analyst told a panel.

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"Washington and Asmara relationship will not be possible" - Outgoing Obama Administration
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